


Card Games

by Sam_V



Series: Life at Wildcliff [1]
Category: Trials and Trebuchets (Podcast)
Genre: Developing Relationship, Family Bonding, Friendship, Gen, Pre-Slash, Team Bonding
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-11-12
Updated: 2020-11-12
Packaged: 2021-03-09 20:53:50
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,312
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27512623
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Sam_V/pseuds/Sam_V
Summary: On one of the many evenings off, S.W.I.M. decide to play some card games in Serinepth's dorm.  What starts as team bonding time invites friends to join them and it turns into a wonderful night to remember.
Relationships: Serinepth Sinderman/Philip Maisel
Series: Life at Wildcliff [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2010625
Comments: 9
Kudos: 5





	Card Games

**Author's Note:**

> This is my first time ever posting any work, so if there's any notes it would be greatly appreciated. I wanted to write some in-between calm, relaxing moments that aren't exactly dug into on the podcast itself, but I can imagine happening.

It was early evening on a Saturday when Serinepth brought up that she had recently picked up some cards and a couple bags of candy from the school store and invites the group to come back to her dorm room to play. The team was currently in their designated room in the old chapel, Mira and Winsler seated at the table while Integrity took a spot next to the windows to set up a mat to start her stretches. Serinepth stood by the bookshelves with a small watering can to water some of the hanging plants when the thought had occured to her.  
Mira was the first to react to the spontaneous invitation, looking up from the book she had been reading through for the last 10 minutes with some surprise.

"That sounds like fun, what type of card game is it?".

"Well," Serinepth turned away from where she had finished watering the creeper vines, looking to her three friends. "It's not a game in and of itself, just a deck of cards really. I didn't see any games in particular in the store, it looked very limited." Winsler looked up from where he was working on his homework.

"I know some really fun card games we can play, when were you thinking of having us over?"

"This evening would be best, especially since we don't have classes tomorrow," Serinepth jumped in, but quickly composing herself before she sounded too excited. "I mean, unless that doesn't work, I realize I sprung this on you quite suddenly. We could figure out a different day if that doesn't work." Mira shook her head at the same time as Winsler tilted his head in thought.

"No, I'm free tonight. I'd love to hang out with you guys.". She smiled brightly to the taller woman, looking over to Winsler as he tapped his chin.

"I promised to help Kurt with something once I get back, but it shouldn't take too long."

Serinepth clapped her hands together happily and looked over to her cousin, who had twisted herself into a pretzel on her mat, looking to be in complete concentration. The three glanced to one another, Mira gesturing over to the Tiefling and then waving a hand in front of her face. Serinepth nodded and moved over to her cousin, bending down so that their heads were on the same level but with none of the flexible bending the younger woman had put herself into.

"Integrity, did you want to join us for candy and cards tonight in my dorm?". Integrity kept her eyes closed and hummed louder then usual, which was the only sign that she had heard Serinepth. The room was quiet for a few moments before she spoke, her eyes still closed.

"What kind of candy?". Serinepth smiled and sat down next to the mat, making sure to be far enough away not to be hit by a stray limb that may come her way.

"The school store had some chocolate and gummies, I bought a bag of each. If there was anything specific you were looking for that the school offers I can pick some up after supper.". Integrity opened one of her eyes and looked over to her cousin with a smile on her face.

"I'll bring some of my snacks with me."

***

Integrity opened the door with an exclamation as she carried a bag in both her hands, making Serinepth jump from where she was on the floor.

"I brought snacks!". She dropped the bag on the table in triumph and sat down on the chair closest to the door as her cousin got up from her spot, gawking at the larger bag now occupying the table. "Let's play some games!". Serinepth smiled to her cousin and went over to her cupboard to grab another bowl for the unknown snacks. She turned back in time to see Ida climb out of Integrity's sleeve and scamper across the top of the table to the other end, jumping off and landing on Virgil's stomach. Virgil snorted, but just rolled over, dropping Ida onto the floor next to him. Serinepth walked back over and handed the bowl to Integrity.

"What do you want to play while we wait for the others to get here?" She sat down next to Integrity as she dumped out the bags contents into the bowl. The variety of the candy told her Integrity didn't get it from the school. The bowl was filled to the brim with an assortment of suckers, candy bars, jelly bean packets, and individually wrapped chocolates. "I know Winsler is going to be another hour, and I'm not sure when Mira's going to get here.". Integrity was already shuffling the cards.

"Do you have any game suggestions?". Serinepth shrugged, taking a gummy from the bowl and popping it into her mouth. Meanwhile, Integrity pulled out a different card deck from her pocket and set it on the table." Alright, clear the table, were gonna play a personal favourite of mine.". Serinepth felt slightly nervous at the gleam in Integrity's eyes, but moved to do just as she was asked.

***

Mira was walking to Serinepth's door when she heard Serinepth yell and Integrity cackle from the other side of the door. She opened it to see the cousins sitting across from eachother with a big bowl of assorted candy and a deck of white cards with hot pink markings on them. The cousins were staring at each other, not aware of her presence as they set cards down on the table.

"Ummm," the two at the table looked to the door with a jump. "Sorry I'm a little late, I got caught up in reading.". Integrity patted the chair next to her.

"No problem, were just playing a game." Serinepth explained. Mira could feel the slight vibration of a leg tapping the underside of the table when she sat down, but she couldn't tell which cousin was causing it. She noticed that next to each of them there were small piles of candy, though the contents of the piles were different for each of them. Next to Serinepth was what looked like a chocolate bar in it's wrapper, a large lollipop, and two piles of jelly beans, half of it sorted by color and another smaller pile hazardously at the edge of the table. On integrity's end was a small pile of assorted chocolates of different sizes and colors, another lollipop, and some Taffy. Crowagami glanced at the table and repositioned himself on Mira's shoulder before taking flight and landing down next to where Ida was sitting on the ground next to Virgil, occasionally tapping his nose to make him snort. So, what game are you guys playing?"

"It's called Sequence, it's a card game where you apparently have to have the largest variety of higher cards to be able to win," Serinepth explained as she stared at her cards. She pulled a new card from the deck and put down a card in response, and with a triumphant smile she placed the cards on the table. "And I believe I just won." She reached her hand out to collect the small pile of candy at the center of the table before Integrity stood from her seat and slammed her cards on the table.

"Boom baby!" She exclaimed as she reached out for the pile of candy from under Serinepth's hand. The momentum was so powerful that when Integrity pulled back she sprayed the candy all over the floor behind her. There was a moment of silence as the last pieces of candy finally settled on the floor. Once everything was quiet, Serinepth turned to her cousin with an unimpressed expression on her face.

"You're cleaning that up." Integrity whipped her head back to her cousin with a pout on her lip.

"But I won the game." Serinepth raised her eyebrow.

"Integrity you can't keep doing this, besides I cleaned it up last time," Integrity side loudly and stood up, but just as she began to move towards the candy, there was a knock at the door." Integrity-." But her cousin was already moving to the door with single-minded focus, pulling it open to reveal Windsor Wallaby with Mr. Wiggles resting on the brim of his hat. Integrity stood to the side and gave an exaggerated bow allowing Winsler to enter the room.

"Howdy, I hope ya'll don't mind, but I invited Kurt to join us," He froze for a moment when he saw the candy on the floor in the general disarray of the table before him, "Are you guys playing Sequence?"

"Sequence?" A voice came from outside the door as Kurt stepped into the room not far behind Winsler. "Isn't that some kind of board game?" Integrity began to move back towards the table, but noticing Serinepth's expression she quickly turned and bent down to pick up the candy that had been sent to the floor. She bundled all of it up in the body of her shirt, moved back to the table with an innocent smile on her face and said an extra cousin.

"This is a different type of Sequence game," Integrity explained as she picked a piece of candy from the bundle in her shirt and handed it to Serinepth as a peace offering, which she took. "Hey, we have more than enough people now that we can play in teams."

"Sounds like fun, how do we decide teams?" Kurt inquired.

"We can pull candy from a hat," Mira volunteered. She looked around the room quickly, and noticed that Serinepth did not have any hats on display. "Or I guess we can pick candy from a shirt." She gestured to Integrity still bulged shirt. Integrity pulled down the flap that she had created and the candy fell out onto the table surface once again, and then sorted through and picked out three candies of the same color twice, 3 red and 3 green. She put the candies back into the shirt bowl and shook it around.

Once the teams were picked (Serinepth and Winsler versus Mira, Integrity, and Kurt) the two teams began to smack talk each other as Serinepth shuffled the deck of cards and Kurt asked about what the rules of the game were.

***

After a half hour of uninterrupted playing, there was another knock at the door. The group, unprompted, placed a finger to the side of their nose and called out 'not it', leaving a very confused and unprepared Serinepth to get up, give Virgil a scratch on the head as she passed pile of pets that had migrated to the bed, and get the door. To her surprise, Angelika stood on the other side, looking at her nails in feign disinterest, with Allena standing not too far behind her.

"Serinepth! Perfect! I was hoping you had that textbook we were studying last week laying around somewhere in here." Though she was pretending to be uncaring, Serinepth could tell from her expression that she was excited to read more of the book. It warmed her heart that they had found a subject that Angelika was enjoying so much.

"Yes of course, please come inside. I had to do some reorganizing recently so it may take me a moment ." She opens the door all the way, leaving it for Angelika and Allena to come inside as she walked back past the table and went to her bookshelf. Angelika looked around the room in confusion, stopping on the table for a moment as Allena joined her and did the same.

"What are you guys playing?" Allena asked as she stepped over to Mira side and took a closer look at the cards.

"Sequence." Integrity tried to explain around the large lollipop she had in her mouth. There was a clutter across the room as Serinepth moved on to the bottom half of her bookshelf. "What are you guys doing this evening?"

"Working on finishing up our homework so we don't have to do it tomorrow." Angelika answered watching as the group at the table placed some cards face down. Serinepth finally stood up from her crouched position and held the book in front of her to make sure it was the right one. When she turned to look to their newest guests, she noticed Angelika sliding closer to the table to watch them play. 

"Do you want to play a couple games before you go?" She stepped back over. Angelika took the book offered to her and shook her head as Allena had already taken a spot between Winsler and Mira. 

"No, there's probably too many people to play. "

"I bought a deck of cards," she looked to Integrity for confirmation. "We should be able to play this game with two decks?"

"Absolutely." She nodded enthusiastically and moved herself over to make room for Angelika, smacking the floor between herself and Kurt. She shook her head again and tucked the book under her arm.

"I don't know how to play the game anyway". She waved her free hand nonchalantly as she turned and started to make her way to the door.

"Well we only just learned it a little while ago so we're all in the same boat." Winsler pointed out.

"Angelika, I'm so proud of you for taking your work seriously," Serinepth rested her hand on Angelika's shoulder, turning her back to the group. "It's night time, and we would love for you to join us for only a couple of games. It'll be 20 minutes at most, I promise." That seemed to be what broke the final defense, and soon the two girls rejoined the group and Winsler took a crack at explaining the rules this time as they finished up the current round.

***

About 2 hours later the evening seemed to be winding down. Most of the candy had been eaten by the group and varying levels of awakeness made conversation extremely entertaining as the group had moved on from Sequence halfway through and were looking for a new game to play.

"War?" Winsler suggested from the floor next to the fireplace.

"How would that work for us?" Kurt mumbled from the end of Serinepth's bed, not even pretending that he was going to be part of the next round as he was clearly getting ready to fall asleep. "Can't really do teams with War." Angelika was glancing through the book with Serinepth, using the break to start her reading and Mira and Allena were looking at the sheet to figure out which candy was which. Integrity lifted her head from the table, taking her hand away from the candies she was organizing.

"We don't have to play in teams," she glances around the room to the different activities. "We could have a competition." That seemed to get Angelika's attention.

"A tournament." 

"Oh no." Serinepth stood and put the book next to Kurt on the bed.

"A battle." Integrity egged on, standing from the table.

"Guys," Serinepth raised both her hands in a hold gesture. "While I enjoy the enthusiasm please don't start a battle in my dorm, we've already had to clean the floor three times."

"Okay, no actual battle, but War." Before Integrity could continue her reasoning there was another knock on the door, sending the group into silence. Another quick round of 'not it' started. This time the only person caught off guard was Angelika; Serinepth had jumped into the game with quick succession and a yelp of excitement. Even Kurt, who was lying on the bed and for all intents and purposes out like a light had raised his hand and tapped the side of his nose. Angelika looked at the group with an expression of disappointment before standing up and going to the door.

"Oh, Angelika, I didn't know you were visiting Serinepth this evening." Philip's voice spoke up from the other side of the door. Angelika looked back into the room at Serinepth with the biggest smile on her face and opened the door fully.

"Philip! It's wonderful to see you up and about, we're just having a bit of a game night. Did you want to join us?" She gestured the table and walked back over, grabbing Integrity's arm and not so subtly pulling her over to the other side of the table so the only free spaces were next to the door. 

"Umm," he glanced over to Serinepth for confirmation and smiled when she not enthusiastically and took a part of the open space. "Okay, absolutely. I'd love to join you guys." He moved over to his spot and as he sat down Serinepth pulled over some of the candy from the middle to place in front of him.

***

It was another hour playing before the first one happened, followed quickly by the second, and soon the entire room was filled with a chorus of yawns apart from the snoring coming from the bed. Serinepth rubbed her left eye and stretched her shoulder, repositioning Philip slightly where the two were leaning together. Integrity popped another candy into her mouth, hoping for another sugar high, as Mira hummed to herself for a moment and took another drink from her cup. Angelika looked around to the group before standing up.

"I'm going to go back to my room and sleep," she picked up the book looked over to where Allena had her head resting on the table and walked over, gently tapping on her shoulder and helping her up. "Thanks for having us over Serinepth. See you guys in the morning.". Serinepth waved tiredly back to her and smiled to them as they left the room before resting against Philips shoulder again and closing her eyes. There was a moment of silence until Winsler covered his mouth and yawned loudly again, sinking into his beanie bag chair. Mira stretched out on the floor for a second before standing up and walking to the top of the bed and laying down on it width side. Integrity moved over to the rug by the fireplace and sprawled out on the floor, soaking in the warmth. Philip looked around the slumbering room and smiled to himself when he looked down at Serinepth's tired face. He moved his shoulder slightly and pressed his cheek to her forehead.

"Serinepth," he whispered to her, waiting for a hum of acknowledgment before he leaned back, letting her sit up straighter. "I'm going to head back to my dorm and get some more sleep.". She looked between his eyes with a drowsy glazed expression and nodded, pulling herself up from the table and stretching her back before holding her hand out to him. He took it and stood up, let her walk him to the door and stood in the threshold.

"I'll see you tomorrow, Ophy." She muttered, leaning on the doorway.

"See you tomorrow, Seri." He smiled to her before turning around and walking back to his room.

She closed the door quietly behind her and turned off the main light, the fireplace keeping her from tripping as she walked over to the open space of the bed and laid down across it, her legs hanging off the edge awkwardly until she curled in on herself. She tilted her head over to where integrity was laid out on the floor.

"Integrity, you don't have to sleep on the floor." Her cousin rolled on to her stomach and looked up to her on the bed.

"But the rug is so comfortable, and warm." She complained quietly, wrapping her arm around one of the pillows that usually cushioned the chairs at the table. Serinepth snickered to herself and Virgil crawled over to her, nudging himself between her arms and relaxing on the bed before he began to gently glow and Serinepth closed her eyes.

It was a wonderful night.


End file.
